There Is A God: Gilmore Girls Revived By Netflix – But Why Now?

Praise be. Gilmore Girls, the excellent dramedy series created by Amy Sherman-Palladino, is expected to be revived by Netflix for four new feature length episodes. Viewers will be able to return to Stars Hollow, Connecticut one last time and revisit the stars of the show including Lauren Graham’s Lorelai Gilmore and her daughter Rory played by Alexis Bledel.

The show ran for seven seasons between 2000 and 2007 and was met with critical acclaim. Time listed it in their 100 greatest TV shows of all time and Entertainment Weekly placed it at number 32 on their break-down of new TV classics. Gilmore Girls also starred Scott Patterson, Kelly Bishop, Keiko Agenda, Yanic Truesdale and a pre-fame Melissa McCarthy. It was, however, cancelled by CW in 2007 after viewers slumped to just 3.7 million.

Netflix announced the return this week. But why has it happened? Well, it probably has something to do with Netflix’s decision to add the entire show to its database earlier this year. Although the streaming service plays its card close to its chest regarding user data, we know that Netflix likes to analyse the trends of its users to determine how content appears in the future. We recently found out, for instance, that Netflix knows exactly how far into a series its viewers tend to get hooked. One has to suspect that Gilmore Girls was such a success on the Netflix streaming service – attracting both old fans revisiting the show and new ones who hadn’t seen it before – that it made the decision to revive the programme.

Amy Sherman-Palladino will return as the showrunner for this new batch of Gilmore Girls episodes alongside the show’s executive producer Daniel Palladino. She recently spoke at the ATX TV Festival on her disappointment at its cancellation and how she felt the story hadn’t been properly completed. She said it’s “always a bummer when you don’t get to end it”.